On 25 April, the Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir  directed BSNL to expedite bandwidth upgradation in 35 worst-affected Maoist districts on priority and ensure up to 2 mbps capacity within one month. This was announced during a high-level meeting to review the mobile connectivity issues in Left Wing Extremism (Maoist) affected districts of the country.

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The Supreme Court has asked Reliance Communications to pay spectrum dues which are to the tune of Rs 774 crore. The amount has to be paid to the telecom department (DoT) by May 2.

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The tariff war unleashed by the entry of RJio in Sep. 2016, and cut in termination cost by the telecom regulator TRAI has led Airtel to witness Rs 652 crore losses in its India business during the March quarter (Q4).

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On 26 April, the Telecom minister Manoj Sinha reviewed the draft guidelines of the upcoming public policy on telecom sector prepared by the Department of Telecom (DoT), and said that it would be soon put on for wide consultation inviting public comments.

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Bharti  Infratel has announced its intention to merge with Indus Towers which is owned by Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. Post-merger, it will be a $14.6 billion company with 1.63 lakh towers. 

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While the sealing is going on, causing call drops in Delhi, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is set to earn Rs. 15 Crore from 3,000 mobile towers in areas under its jurisdiction as part of property tax on them. The civic body is likely to move a resolution in this regard. 

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As India is getting ready to roll out 5G, the country is looking to partner with South Korea, which was ranked second in information communications technology index for 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union, while India was at the 134th position.

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As per the latest report by London-based Open Signal, Airtel has beaten RJio in terms of 3G, 4G speed. Jio delivered everyday download speeds of 5.1 Mbps in tests, compared to Bharti Airtel's 6 Mbps.

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Reliance Communications cannot sell its towers till April 23 as the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has recalled its April 6 order that allowed the sale. The NCLT order of March 12, barring the sale of tower and fibre assets held by Reliance Infratel, continues for now.

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Following the closure of 566 telecom towers by the MCD, people suffered call drops at many places in Delhi. There are 11,500 mobile towers installed in Delhi and 1,150 more are required for seamless coverage but they have been pending for the want of permission.

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The telecom regulator TRAI has recently launched a portal for consumers to compare all available mobile phone tariffs across operators. It is the first such platform from the government.

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The days of 4G smartphones will get over soon. According to the report compiled by Counterpoint Research, the 5G smartphone shipments are expected to grow a whopping 255 per cent by 2021, almost reaching 110 million units. 

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A total of 5000 employees belonging to Vodafone and Idea may be shown the exit door post the merger of two firms. This is one fourth of their combined 21,000-strong workforce.

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On 14 April, the Delhi High Court directed Bharti Airtel to change its Indian Premier League (IPL) advertising campaign after Reliance Jio Infocomm alleged that Airtel was misleading customers.

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Reliance Jio, the new entrant in telecom sector, has raised Rs 2,500 crore from Axis Bank via domestic bonds; the bank is the sole arranger for the five-year money. The bonds have offered a rate of 8%, and the proceeds would be used for its proposed expansion.

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On 12 April, the leading telecom operator Vodafone India launched its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in Punjab.

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As many telecom operators are not happy with the telecom regulator TRAI’s MySpeed app,the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has written to the telecom regulator to address the issues. It  cited a TRAI white paper in February that showed data-speed testers such as Ookla, OpenSignal and 4G Mark pegging Jio’s download speeds at 7.33, 5.81 and 4.6, respectively, while its MySpeed app recorded it at 18.4.

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Soon people may not need wi-fi or dongle while using their laptops, as The Mukesh Ambani-led Jio has held dialogues with the US chip major Qualcomm to bring out laptops running the Windows 10 operating system with built-in cellular connections for the Indian market. 

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Reliance Jio has deployed pre-5G Massive MIMO for users at IPL matches in Delhi and Mumbai. The stadiums of the IPL matches have been connected with pre-5G Massive MIMO units.

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With the National Company Appellate Law Tribunal (NCLAT)’s vacating stay on Reliance Infra’s tower, fibre sale, Anil Ambani -led Reliance Communications' worries have come down. But NCLAT has asked Reliance Infra to deposit the sale proceeds in an escrow account of the State Bank of India (SBI).

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